Sıdkı Mustafa Pasha's name appears in four separate terms at the head of the clerks of the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun), as chief scribe (reisülküttap). This scribe from Amasya, who rose to the highest levels of the Ottoman central bureaucracy in the middle of the seventeenth century, was a statesman, calligrapher and poet as well. Born in the Fethiye quarter of Amasya into a family that had produced judges, he was trained in the scribal service of the Imperial Council, served twice as chancellor (nişancı) too, was sent as governor to Temeşvar and received the rank of vizier. He died in the month of Muharrem of the year 1073 (1662). The sources say he had a divan of poetry; Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar quotes seven pieces from him in Amasya Tarihi: kaside lines, fragments of ghazals and a tercî-i bend. It was he, too, who restored the mosque of the quarter where he was born; this side of him is also touched on in the pages Fethiye Neighbourhood and Fethiye Mosque. Hüsameddin's long entry is given in full on the page Sıdkı Mustafa Paşa-Kadızâde.

Family and Education

According to Hüsameddin, Sıdkı Mustafa was the son of Ahmed Efendi of the Fethiye quarter, "of the class of judges", and the grandson of Mustafa Efendi, judge of Amasya. The by-name "Kadızâde" (son of the judge) comes from this lineage. He learned the sciences, letters and fine writing with his uncle Küçük Mehmed Ali Efendi, whom Hüsameddin calls "fâzıl-ı meşhûr", a famous scholar. After teaching for a while he changed course, entered the life of the pen as divan secretary of Hâce Ahmed Pasha of Amasya, and from there moved to the scribal office of the Imperial Council.

In the same volume Hüsameddin writes that Siyâmî Ali Efendi of Amasya completed his studies in the lessons of "Kadızâde Küçük Mehmed Efendi". The similarity of the names and the by-name suggests that Siyâmî's teacher may have been Sıdkı's uncle; Hüsameddin does not connect the two records, and this is a possibility drawn from the text.

Rise in the Chancery

According to the record quoted from Mehmed Süreyya's Sicill-i Osmânî, Sıdkı became secretary (tezkireci) to the Grand Vizier Hüseyin Pasha in 1030 (1621) and keeper of the registers (defter emini) in 1038 (1628-29). Hüsameddin's account, by contrast, shows him beside Bayram Pasha of Ladik: Sıdkı became Bayram Pasha's secretary and in his grand vizierate, in 1047 (1637-38), chief scribe, that is, head of the clerks of the Imperial Council. Hüsameddin's chronicle of events in the fourth volume shifts the date a little: there it is written that after Bayram Pasha died on the Baghdad campaign in Rebiülâhir 1048 (1638), in the time of the new grand vizier Tayyar Mehmed Pasha, "Amasyalı Sıdkı Mustafa Efendi, of the famous poets and of the scribes of the Imperial Council", became chief scribe.

Shortly after the accession of Sultan İbrahim, Sıdkı was dismissed in Muharrem 1050 (1640) and sent to Amasya because of the hostility the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha bore towards the men of his predecessors. On Kara Mustafa Pasha's execution he returned to İstanbul in Zilkade 1053 (1644), drew close to the sultan's companion (musahib) Yusuf Pasha with a kaside presented to him, became his secretary, and, in place of Hasan Hükmî Efendi who died in 1054, became chief scribe for the second time. A footnote of Hüsameddin says that the kaside couplets he quotes come from kasides presented to "Kaptan Yusuf Pasha".

The following years trace the ups and downs of a period in which grand viziers changed rapidly. In Şaban 1057 (1647), in the grand vizierate of Hezarpare Ahmed Pasha, he became chancellor, and in Receb 1058 (1648), during the events in which Sultan İbrahim was deposed and Mehmed IV came to the throne, chief scribe for the third time. In Şaban 1060 (1650) he left office with the dismissal of Kara Murad Pasha, and in Receb 1062 (1652), on the proposal of Tarhuncu Ahmed Pasha, he was appointed chief scribe for the fourth time. When Tarhuncu was killed in Rebiülâhir 1063 (1653) he was again left without office, and in 1064 he became administrator (mütevelli) of the Süleymaniye endowments.

When İbşir Mustafa Pasha came to İstanbul as grand vizier, Sıdkı's old acquaintance with İbşir's steward (kethüda), Sâlih Ağa of Amasya, opened a new door to him. In Cemâziyelevvel 1065 (1655) he became chancellor with the honorary rank of beylerbey of Rumelia. Hüsameddin's chronicle also records the harshness behind this appointment: Sıdkı's predecessor, Mevkûfâtî Bağdadî Mehmed Efendi, incurred İbşir Pasha's wrath, was put to death and his property confiscated. A few months later, when İbşir Pasha was killed and his successor Kara Murad Pasha was also dismissed, Sıdkı resigned and withdrew.

Temeşvar and Last Years

On the proposal of the Grand Vizier Süleyman Pasha of Malatya, Sıdkı was sent as governor of the province of Temeşvar, in present-day Romania, and according to Hüsameddin received the rank of vizier in Rebiülevvel 1066 (1655-56). Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who became grand vizier in Zilkade of the same year, was an old friend who had shown him kindness and help in his days out of office; Sıdkı therefore kept his post. But the joining of his brother-in-law Can Arslan Pasha in the rebellion of Abaza Hasan Pasha in 1069 (1658-59), against Köprülü, shook him. According to Hüsameddin, Sıdkı served while Köprülü suppressed the rebellion and set out on the Hungarian campaign, and kept his office.

Orhan Kılıç's study of the pashas of Buda and Temeşvar, relying on Sadık Müfit Bilge, places Sıdkî Mustafa Pasha's term in Temeşvar between March 1657 and March 1658 and gives his rank as mîrimîran, that is, beylerbey, rather than vizier. These dates point to a shorter governorship than Hüsameddin's account and cannot be reconciled with the statement that he was still in Temeşvar during Köprülü's campaign. Which account is correct could not be determined in this study.

According to Hüsameddin, Sıdkı resigned in Rebiülevvel 1072 (1661), when Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha became grand vizier, came to İstanbul, and died as a vizier of the dome (kubbe veziri) in Muharrem 1073 (August 1662). There is another account of the place of his death. Müstakimzâde Süleyman Sâdeddîn's Tuhfetü'l-hattâtîn, quoted by Hüsameddin in a footnote, speaks of an "Ahmed Sıdkı" who was twice chief scribe and died in Temeşvar in Muharrem 1073. Hüsameddin thinks this record belongs not to the son Ahmed but to his father Sıdkı Pasha, and says that Müstakimzâde confused two persons. The quotation he makes from Mehmed Şeyhî's Vekâyiu'l-fuzalâ also states that he died after his dismissal in Muharrem 1073; the phrase "vizierate in 1047" in Şeyhî's text is marked with an exclamation mark in Hüsameddin's quotation.

Ties to Amasya

Sıdkı Mustafa never broke his ties with his home town. On his dismissal in 1640 he was sent to Amasya, and according to Hüsameddin's first volume he restored, together with his sister Âyşe Hanım, the Fethiye Mosque damaged in the earthquake of 1057 (1647), and arranged its endowments in property and cash. There Âyşe Hanım's husband is called "Cân Mîrzâ Paşa"; whether he is the same person as Can Arslan Pasha, named as his brother-in-law in the eleventh volume, is not clear. As seen in the Islamic court registers, he had a school built beside the mosque, established a preaching post in the mosque and appointed staff from the income of the money he endowed. Hüsameddin's fourth volume also counts him among the statesmen who protected and advanced the people of Amasya in İstanbul, and in the same volume names him as one of two Amasya viziers who were at once calligraphers, poets and scholars.

The next generation of his family also remained in the chancery. Of his sons Ahmed and Mehmed Emin Beys, Mehmed Emin became secretary to Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, and Ahmed chief scribe in the grand vizierate of Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha. His son-in-law was the chancellor Müeyyedzâde Ca'fer Pasha of Amasya. The Sicill-i Osmânî writes that Sıdkı built a small mosque (mescit) beside his waterside house at Kayalar in İstanbul; Hüsameddin, relying on endowment records, shows that the mescit was built by his son Ahmed Bey. Hüsameddin also stresses that he must not be confused with the statesmen Ebûbekir Sıdkı Efendi and Sıdkı Pasha the translator.

Poetry

Sıdkı's poetic gift is mentioned in all the sources. Mehmed Şeyhî says he had "müretteb ve mükemmel bir dîvân-ı belâgat-unvânları", that is, an ordered, complete and eloquent divan; the Sicill-i Osmânî too says "he is of the scholars and poets, he has a divan of poetry". Zeynep Kayapınar's index of Amasya authors, based on Hüsameddin, reports that this divan was published by Mehtap Erdoğan in 2011 under the title Sıdkî Paşa Dîvân ve Berf ü Bahâr. We have not been able to consult that edition; its contents and its relation to the texts given by Hüsameddin are therefore not assessed here.

The pieces Hüsameddin quotes show different sides of the poet. Three couplets from the kasides presented to Kaptan Yusuf Pasha praise a patron likened to a tall cypress in the garden of state and a fruit-bearing sapling in the orchard of learning. Then come five short pieces given with the note "Ve lehû" (his also): a couplet likening the beloved's lip to the cup of Jamshid and the cheek to Alexander's mirror, two couplets recalling the cup and the sound of the reed flute in the rose season, the three-couplet opening of a ghazal counselling hope in a faithless beloved, an opening couplet proposing to pass the cup in the open country "for a day or two" in this passing world, and a closing couplet naming the poet's own pen name. The last piece is the longest: according to Hüsameddin, Sıdkı wrote a tercî-i bend when he was dismissed and exiled because of the pride and rancour of the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha. This five-stanza poem, each stanza of which ends with the couplet "Tekebbürlük Hüdâya yaraşur sen Âdemîdensin / Vücûdun anla ey gâfil ki bir katre menîdensin", reminds an overbearing statesman of the great rulers of the passing world. These seven pieces are published in Sıdkı's category, each on its own page and rendered couplet by couplet.

Chronology

1030 (1621): According to the Sicill-i Osmânî, becomes secretary to the Grand Vizier Hüseyin Pasha.

1038 (1628-29): According to the Sicill-i Osmânî, becomes keeper of the registers.

1047-1048 (1637-38): Becomes chief scribe for the first time.

Muharrem 1050 (1640): Dismissed and sent to Amasya.

1054 (1644-45): Becomes chief scribe for the second time.

1057 (1647): Restores the Fethiye Mosque damaged by the earthquake.

Şaban 1057 (1647): Becomes chancellor.

Receb 1058 (1648): Becomes chief scribe for the third time.

Receb 1062 (1652): Becomes chief scribe for the fourth time.

Cemâziyelevvel 1065 (1655): Becomes chancellor for the second time, with the honorary rank of beylerbey of Rumelia.

1066 (1655-56): According to Hüsameddin, receives the rank of vizier as governor of Temeşvar; according to Kılıç, his term in Temeşvar falls between March 1657 and March 1658.

Rebiülevvel 1072 (1661): Resigns and comes to İstanbul.

Muharrem 1073 (August 1662): Dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies